GCSE

Food Technology

Coursework Guide

This coursework guide offers valuable information and examples to assist with

planning and completing your coursework. PLEASE KEEP IT SAFE.

Name: Form:

CONTEXT

There has been much concern related to the quality of food products/meals

served to students in school canteens. The “healthy school dinner” campaign has

brought about many positive changes. The school canteen is to launch a new and

exciting range of food products to appeal to 11—16 year olds.

Design Task

Design and make a nutritionally balanced product with excellent sensory

properties which appeals to teenagers.

To ensure success you must: Equip yourself with an A3 folder.

Prepare a front cover for the project to include:

Name

St Aidan’s C. of E. School 48237

Candidate Number, (leave space to fill in later)

Context and Design Brief

Decide on your layout: Choose a font style and size and keep it the same

all the way through.

Choose to layout pages onto A3 or use an A3 template and layout to A4

and print and arrange the pages accordingly. (Please be aware that printing

to A3 can be an issue, particularly approaching deadline dates!) Whichever

method you choose it must be well laid out and neat.

KEEP TO DEADLINES

Keep to page allocation. You will be rewarded for a “focussed and concise”

folder. 20 sides of A3 is the absolute maximum.

Work independently using your own ideas and initiative. Help will be

available throughout, don’t be afraid to ask.

1. Investigating the design opportunity: This is the first section of your coursework and should clearly show:

Your understanding of the task.

Concise, relevant and focussed research.

A summary of the research.

Clear understanding of how the research will inform your choice of possi-

ble design ideas.

a) Analysis of the Design Task, focussing on key words and

the research required. This is your starting point. In this section you need to show that you

understand the Design Brief. How can you tackle this?

Produce a Task Analysis (Spider diagram) and a Detailed Analysis—add

written detail on all main points.

Pick out the key words and explain in detail what they mean within the

context of the Design Brief

This task should be no more than 1-1½ sides of A3.

Example of a Task Analysis

Spider diagram of all relevant

points, start with the most

obvious ones in the brief and

then extend and explain your

thoughts. Remember concise

and relevant

b) Concise, relevant and focussed research. (A maximum of

2 sides of A3) Focus on existing products and the needs of

target market/consumer. 3 pieces of research are

required.

You must start each piece of research with an AIM. What

are you doing and what do you hope to discover.

What sort of research would be appropriate :

Questionnaire.

Interview with the School Chef

Interview with the Dietician

Visit the school kitchen

Comparative shop/Shop Research

Nutritional Requirement of the target market. (This is essential and

must be included by all)

Government guidelines for school meals.

Questionnaire

1. Decide what you want to find out from a questionnaire.

2. Write 10 questions. Make sure each question is relevant to your Design

Brief. Think very carefully about how you word each question. Always use

closed questions or questions with a limited choice answer. You cannot pro-

cess answers to open questions.

3. Ask 10 people to answer the questionnaire. This ratio makes working out

percentages easier.

4. Analyse the results and explain what you have found out.

5. Produce graphs/charts for some of the results.

Use the table on the next page to help with your questionnaire.

Remember to start with your aim:

E.g. To find out what kind of products and ingredients are popular with school

children between 11-16 years.

Interviews

Start with an aim.

Points to assist:

Write a list of questions, possibly 8—10.

With an interview the questions can be open and in-depth.

Think about the sort of experience the Dietician and/or Chef might have

and design your questions accordingly.

Keep it relevant to the Design Brief.

Visit to the school kitchen

Start with the aim for this piece of research: What are you doing and why

are you doing it.

It is a valuable exercise to look at how food is prepared on a commercial basis

and within a limited time scale. Food safety and hygiene practice can be

researched as part of this exercise.

Points to consider before you visit:

Be aware of the type of food that is produced. Refer to the school

website.

Be ready with relevant questions about the production of school meals.

Think about the type of information that would be useful for your Design

Brief.

Keep it concise and relevant.

Comparative Shop

Your aim could be: To decide on a product range and carry out a

comparative shop to find out detailed information about products available.

Points to consider:

Visit a supermarket or get the information on-line.

Research at least 10 products, make sure they are different and all

relevant to the Design Brief.

Write a detailed analysis of your findings ensuring you answer your aim.

Examples of the layout on the next page.

Name of

Product

Price Size/

Weight

Nutritional

Value

Picture Main

Ingredients

Comment

Nutritional Requirements of the target market.

The Design Brief is to design and make a nutritionally balanced product, it is

therefore essential to be clear about what the nutritional requirements are for

young people between the ages of 11-16 years.

Points to consider:

What information will you include? It would be of value to include energy

requirements in calories (kcal not kj), protein, carbohydrates, fat, fibre,

salt, iron and possibly calcium requirements.

How do you get this information?, the following websites are excellent:

www.waitrose.com> Food & Drink> Food > Health & nutrition >

Healthy eating for children > 11 to 18 year old

Food Tables: Bender & Bender

This information needs to include figures this will be necessary for the

specification.

Government guidelines for School Meals

All school meals are now regulated by government guidelines and these have

come about, in part, by the work done by Jamie Oliver. You may want to

investigate the work Jamie Oliver has done and the impact it has had on

school lunches. You may also choose to investigate the guidelines.

Points to consider:

How would I find information of any of these topics? There are a number

of websites, publications and books in school. Useful websites:

www.eatwell.gov.uk

www. jamieoliver.com

www. staidans.co.uk

www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk

Final note on research:

You only need 2 sides of A3. It must be focussed, relevant and concise.

Emphasis must be on existing products and the target market.

c) Analysis of research and findings.

The final part of the “Investigating the design opportunity “ is the analysis of

research. This can be done in a table format and must be no more than 1 side of

A3 or equivalent. You may choose to word process this section or you may

construct a table and them write the contents.

Template in common> Technology> GCSE Food Technology> GCSE Coursework.

Type of research

Questionnaire

Findings

Summary of findings.

Decisions based

on findings

How will this help with your

designing. Pick out key

points.

Initial Design

Specification

Compile a list of things your

product will be, base this on

your research:

Sweet or savoury

Hot or cold

Main meal or snack

1/3rd of daily RDA.

d) Design Specification

This is a bullet point list that will show what you have found out from research.

These points will guide you when you begin putting together your design ideas

and must reflect the design brief.

Points to consider:

The points must reflect your research.

The points must be measurable.

Try not to limited your options at this point—don’t add in points that will

stop you being creative in your design ideas.

The specification should include:

Target market, Product type, Portion Size

Price range, Nutritional considerations

Any special claims e.g. nut free

Sweet or savoury, Hot or cold

Type of cuisine, Ingredients details

Method of production

Development of Design Proposal

It is now time to be creative and put together a range of Design Ideas. Think

very carefully about the dishes you will choose, they must fit both the Design

Criteria and the Design Specification. Please be aware that this is your

opportunity to show your practical abilities, you must show a range of skills,

imagination and innovation.

The title for this section is Development of Design Proposal and you will put

together a colourful mood board of appropriate dishes on a side of A3. You

should select 10 ideas (you will make 4-6 of these) and start the

page with a clear aim. The method you choose to communicate the ideas is your

own choice you may collect images from magazines or the internet, you may

sketch or draw different images, you can choose. It is vitally important,

however, that you annotate you ideas. You must include the following

information on each image:

clear description of the dish

specific ingredients

finishing techniques

how it fits the Design criteria

and the Design Specification

how it can be developed

Environmental considerations of ingredients: organic, sustainability, Fait

Trade, Farm Assured, Genetically Modified, Food miles.

Additionally, you may want to add information on environmental issues such as

the seasonality of the ingredients, the use of organic or Fair Trade ingredients.

Egg flavoured tagliatelli

pasta. This could be freshly

made or a standard

component. Shape could be

changed and could be

flavoured with herbs, spices

or coloured with extract of

spinach.

Tuna flakes in a cream

sauce. This gives the dish

an excellent sensory and

nutritional quality. Tuna is

a good source of protein

and low in fat. Additional

flavourings could be added

to the sauce, the sauce

could be made with

skimmed milk to reduce the

fat content. Salmon or

smoked haddock could be

used as an alternative to

tuna.

Herb garnish to add colour.

Mushrooms or tomatoes could be

used to enhance the colour and

texture.

This dish fits the Design Specification as it

has a pasta base and could be served as a

lunchtime meal.

Tuna Tagliatelli: Tuna flakes in a

creamy sauce served on a bed of

Tagliatelli garnished with fresh basil.

Evaluation of Design Proposals:

When you have completed your mood board of annotated design proposals it is a

good idea to compile an evaluation to help you to decide which ideas to make.

Write a short paragraph for each chosen idea to discuss how well it would fit

the criteria and the specification. Start each paragraph with a title and then

write about each of your ideas, keep it short. Make sure you have chosen a

range of dishes that clearly show skill, imagination and innovation.

The next page provides a template for you to write up your design ideas. This

Can be accessed from Common> Technology> GCSE Food Technology> A3 Design

Ideas.

Sensory Testing

It is important to use different methods of sensory testing. Your Design

Ideas and Developments should be evaluated using a mixture of Ranking,

Rating and Difference tests.

Ranking tests:

A ranking test is used to sort a choice of foods into order. You can rank

foods according to which ones you like best or choose one characteristic

such as saltiness, sweetness or spiciness and put the foods in order. This is

very useful if you make three dishes and want to find which one people like

the best. Use random coding and ask your tasters to rank the product from

most liked to least liked and produce a chart to demonstrate your findings.

Rating test:

A rating test is used to find out how much someone likes or dislikes

something. A ranking test is used to find which product tasters like best, but

a rating test can give you more detailed information about how much they

like or dislike something. The scales are 0-5 with 5 being the most liked and

0 being the least liked. Each characteristic of the product can be measured:

taste, texture, smell and appearance for instance, any appropriate charac-

teristic can be selected.

Difference tests:

These tests are used to find out if there is a clear difference between

products. They might be used to test a low fat product against the same

product with a higher fat content. Often samples will include two identical

products and one different product or three identical ones and two

Different. You might use this method if you are developing your product by

changing one ingredient in each development to find out if people can notice

any differences.

Sensory testing

How do I display my results?

Product profile: Use excel and produce a radar graph to display results. This

method is suitable for the Rating test.

Sensory chart/table: This method is suitable for the Ranking,

Rating or Difference tests.

Written evaluation:

Write your conclusions in paragraphs. Keep it factual and make sure it

reflects findings.

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Development Work

Following on from your Design Ideas it is now time to make a decision as to

which product you will develop. It is vital that you think very carefully about

this stage. You will be expected to carry out between 4 - 6 developments.

Please be very clear about the difference between developments and mod-

ifications:

Development work involves investigating and experimenting with ingredients

and recipes/methods. It has an effect on the structure (changing size, shape),

sensory qualities, nutritional profile and general acceptance of the food.

Modification work is changing ingredients. Substituting one ingredient for the

next.

(Development work carries the highest marks.)

Insert a chart to justify your development choice. See below for an example of

the type of chart that could be used. Clearly state why you have chosen the

product and how you think it will satisfy the Design Criteria and specification.

Design Specification points:

Suitable to be served as part of a meal √ √ √ √ √

Sweet or savoury √ √ √ √ √

Excellent sensory qualities √ √ √ √ √

Hot or cold √ √ √ √ √

Appeals to target market √ √ √ √ √

Could be handheld X X X X √

Could be served as a break time snack X X X X √

Interesting and different √ X √ X √

Following the chart add in a paragraph

Picking out the points from both Design Criteria and the Design

Specification and say how this products meets them more closely than the oth-

er ideas.

say what did not match so well and how you could change that.

Focus on the sensory qualities—how does it look, how acceptable was the

taste and the texture. Remember the focus is on

“excellent sensory properties” and “new and exciting”.

See the template on Common> Technology> GCSE Food Technology> GCSE

Coursework> Product Spec for assistance.

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Communicating development ideas.

Having made your choice for your development work you must now put together

a mind map of some ideas. Think about all the possible developments that could

be carried out on your chosen product.

This is an example:

Fish

Cod

Haddock Tuna

Salmon

Coley

Fish Cakes

Potatoes

Grated Cheese

Herbs and spices

Coatings

Breadcrumbs

Seeds

Desiccated

Coconut

Vegetables

Steamed

Raw

Roasted Stir fry

Baked

Potato

Aubergine

Pasta

Flavoured

Bread

Base

Flavoured

Thickened

Vegetable

Puree

Sauce

Spices

Boiled

If you are stuck for ideas flick forward to the page titled “Planning for

Development work” for assistance.

Product Specification

This is a detailed list of the things that your product will be. Think carefully

about the Design Criteria, the Design Specification and the design process you

have worked through and use SATSUMAS as your guide. The order in which it

appears can vary but make sure you cover each point.

S—What will the size (dimensions) be?

A—Describe the sensory characteristics: Appearance and Aroma.

T—Describe the sensory characteristics: Taste and Texture.

S—What shape will the product be?

U—What will be the use by/shelf life of the product? (e.g. chilled 3 days) How

much will the unit cost be?

M—What materials are needed and what will the mass weight be?

A—What is the age/target group the product will be aimed at? E.g. Those on a

vegetarian diet, low-fat, healthy-diet?

S—How will it be stored? E.g. chilled, frozen.

Also include: - What your product is called?

How many will it serve?

What is its nutritional profile?

As you begin your development section do remember that this is the section

that carries the most marks.

Product Analysis

Before you begin to develop your product it is essential to carry out a Product

Analysis on a similar product to give you a clear insight and inform your

development work.

Here are some guidelines to assist with this task. You will need to think about

how you will record and display your information.

Name of the product and manufacturer?

Price? Total and per 100g

What does the food look like? Shape, colour, before and after

heating.

What is its size? Show weight, height, length, and a

labelled drawing.

What ingredients does it contain? Look at the ingredients list,

notice the proportions of the

ingredients.

How long will it keep?

Storage instructions? Datemark, storage instructions.

What is the nutritional value? Look at the chart on the label.

Reheating instructions? What are they? Do they work?

Serving instructions?

How much does each part of the

product weigh? Take each part and weight it

separately.

Taste, texture? Use a variety of appropriate

sensory descriptors.

Who would the product appeal to?

Write a detailed conclusion to your findings.

Use the digital camera throughout to record photographic evidence.

Planning for development work.

You do not need to plan more than one or two practicals ahead. The result of

one practical should lead you into the next.

There are different ways of approaching development work. A development

practical may explore more than one development e.g. if you are exploring

different flavouring for your chosen product choose several combinations for

one development:

Aim: to explore the addition of multicultural ingredients to the basic beef

burger recipe.

Make up a 300g basic mixture, divide into 4 bowls.

Bowl 1 add sundried tomato paste + 1 tsp oregano

Bowl 2 add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, onion.

Bowl 3 add garlic, fresh chilli, red kidney beans.

Bowl 4 add tikka masala paste.

Shape burgers and cook, carry out sensory analysis.

Development Ideas

Pizza ideas:

Base: Add: herbs, spices, vegetables, fruit, seeds, colour, texture, flavour,

Change: white flour to wholemeal flour, tepid water to tomato juice, stock etc.

Topping: Sundried, fresh, roasted, green etc. Consider alternatives to tomato,

pesto, bbq sauce, Indian sauce, Mexican salsa, blended roasted vegetables, car-

amelised onions, cheese sauce etc

….and for something extra think about marinades, additional flavouring,

texture, colour, shape, size. Why not layer, roll, create a triangle, sandwich etc

Burger ideas:

Meat, fish, pulses, vegetables, cheese, quorn, tofu etc. Use marinades or herbs,

spices or oils. Consider interesting extras for flavour and texture. Layering of

different bits all pressed together to form burgers e.g. roasted vegetables,

chicken breast, basil and smoked ham or bacon etc.

Bread: Add herbs, spices, vegetables, seeds, colour, flavour. Adaptations:

wholemeal, marble, change the tepid water to a flavoured liquid.

Size and shape: novelty shape, decorated finish, add glaze, sprinkles, use a

mould.

Final Product

A demanding final product is required. Think very carefully about how you

achieve this. How you will achieve this by working independently??

Will your final product have excellent sensory qualities and fit the original

design criteria along with all your specifications? Take time out to consider all

these factors.

Production plan

A detail plan including the processes/methods, food safety and hygiene, quality

control and monitoring is necessary. An A3 template is available in the Year 11

folder in common, use it to assist with this task. It is not necessary to include

timings, however, you will need to be very aware of how you will complete this

task in the allocate time.

Photographs are essential, maximum of 4, as evidence of your work. It is vital

that you make good use of the digital camera.

You are nearing the finish line!!

You will now need to write up a final evaluation for your finished product. To

assist you with this two templates are available on common:

Final solution 1 & Final solution 2

Use these guides to help and make sure you include all the relevant information.

Some final “food for thought” points!

Your coursework should flow a bit like a story—does yours????

6 marks are available for good grammar, spelling, punctuation, use of technical

language and a “concise design folder” - Will you get all 6????

Excellent use of the space on each page and correct layout instantly gives a

good impression-work hard to achieve this.

As you reach this stage 60% of your GCSE is complete—WELL DONE :)